150 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID^. 



suspected of iuveiitiug it to embellish his work. I have, there- 

 fore, the greater pleasure in beiug able to present a full account 

 of the species. 



The first specimen known after the type was a fragment of a 

 skin which for some years lay unrecognized in the National 

 ^ruseum at Washington. According to my present recollec- 

 tion, the object being not at hand, it consists of a squarish 

 piece of the skin of the lower back, with the tail attached. 



A second specimen (No. 11932) lately reached the same mu- 

 seum, but unfortunately in very defective state of preservation. 

 It was procured from some point on the Platte River, and pre- 

 sented by Mr. J. W. Munyon, or Muuyou. The skull was 

 smashed to pieces. I was only enabled to determine that the 

 animal had thirty-four teeth, and was therefore Putoriiis, not 

 Mustela^ and that its relationships appeared to be with the 

 European P.foetidiis group.* 



Being so short of the necessary material when I began to 

 study this group, I caused an advertisement of my wants, with 

 a description of the species, to be inserted in several of the 

 sporting newspapers, and extensively copied by papers of the 

 region inhabited by the species. This had the gratifying re- 

 sult that in a short time the required specimens were received 

 at the Smithsonian Institution ; and my thanks are due to 

 several gentlemen who kindly interested themselves in the 

 matter. 



The third specimen (counting the above-mentioned scrap of 

 skin as one) was brought to Washington by Dr. F. Y. Hayden, 

 Director of the United States Geological Survey. This one 

 was taken by Dr. Law, in the valley of the Cache La Poudre 

 Eiver, near the northern border of Colorado. It was in better 

 condition than Mr. Munyon's, but still defective, having lost 

 part of the tail and most of the head, which had been shattered 

 by a rilie-ball. The length of this individual was about eighteen 

 inches to the root of the tail. Dr. Hayden informed me that it 

 had been shot at the mouth of a prairie-dog hole, of which it 

 had taken possession, and that its stomach contained remains 

 of one of these quadrupeds. He also spoke to me of another 

 individual, kept for some time in confinement at Greeley, Colo- 



*The whitishness about the mouth and ears of P.fcetidus, contrasting with 

 dark parts, gives somewhat the appearance of a stripe across the face, which 

 is perfected in C. nigripes, in which the face-markings recall those of the 

 Grison, Galiclis vittuta. 



